Phipps Conservatory Fall Flower Show "Visions of Japan" opens October 4 and runs through October 26.

The Fall Flower Show "Visions of Japan" opens October 4 at Phipps.

Starting Sat., Oct. 4, Phipps’ Fall Flower Show: Visions of Japan celebrates the prominence of the chrysanthemum in Japanese culture through vibrant autumnal displays. Mums in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors will be presented alongside evocative props including jewel-toned fans, a moon gate, a pagoda, foot bridges and a celebratory ryuu, or dragon, whose brightly colored body floats from end to end of the glasshouse’s iconic Sunken Garden. These mums will be grown using traditional Japanese techniques like disbud and cascade.

The narrative will focus on how the human-nature connection is manifested in Japan. Highlights include the joyous festivals (aki matsuri) and parades that celebrate the autumn harvest season, the symbolism of chrysanthemums in Japanese garden culture and more. Broadly, the show presents an opportunity to discuss some of the unique strategies originated in Japan to promote horticulture as therapeutic, including Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing).

2025 Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival, September 27 at North Park.

The 2025 Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival will be held on September 27 at North Park. The event runs from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm on North Park Lake (map), and in addition to the races that support breast cancer survivors, there will be a lion dance, food trucks, vendors, and activitiy tables including the Chinese Heritage Room (from the Pitt Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Program), OCA, the Pittsburgh Chinese School, and the Pittsburgh Taoist Tai Chi Society. The eye dotting ceremony begins at 8:20 am with Allen Peng of the Organization of Chinese Americans and first race begins at 9:10 am. The event is free for spectators.

Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program Information Session, October 2 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will hold its annual Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program Information Session on October 2.

Are you interested in living and working abroad?

Have you been studying Japanese and looking to apply your skills after graduation?

Do you want to make an impact on the lives of young people?

Would you like to find out where the ultimate ramen shop is found?

If any of these questions apply to you, then please join the Asian Studies Center and JET Alumni group in Pittsburgh for an information session to learn more about the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. This hybrid Information Session will be in room 4130 Posvar Hall, on the 4th floor of W. Wesley Posvar Hall on October 2, 2025 starting at 6:00pm. Learn about the requirements of the JET Program and learn from your future-JET Program sempai with our JET Alumni Panel.

The hybrid event starts at 6:00 pm and registration is required; the in-person component is held in 4130 Posvar Hall.

Pitt Surplus auctioning Japanese kei van.

The University of Pittsburgh Surplus Property is auctioning a 2000 Mitsubishi Minicab Microvan GD-U62V that had been used by Pitt-Johnstown dining.

Used. Runs but has extensive rust issues.

2025 Chinese film The Botanist (植物学家) at University of Pittsburgh, September 26, part of SCREENSHOT: Asia Film Festival.

The 2025 Chinese film The Botanist (植物学家) will play in Pittsburgh on September 26, part of the SCREENSHOT: Asia Film Festival.

In a village in a remote valley on the northern border of Xinjiang, China, a lonely Kazakh boy named Arsin (Jahseleh Yesi) nurses fading memories of his family. He finds solace in the company of plants. The arrival of Meiyu (Ren Zihan), a Han Chinese girl, is like the discovery of a plant he has never seen before, bringing him comfort and a strange sense of wonder. Together, they grow like two distinct species, rooted in a shared corner of the world, imagining the valley as an endless ocean. But one day, Arsin learns that Meiyu will be moving to Shanghai, which is 4,792 kilometers away – a distance he struggles to comprehend. She is headed to a city where the ocean actually exists. Arsin is left alone to grapple with the quiet shifts in their small, fragile world.

The show starts at 1:00 pm in G24 Cathedral of Learning. Tickets are available online, and remain free for those with a Pitt ID.

2024 Taiwanese film Daughter's Daughter (女兒的女兒) in Pittsburgh, September 27, part of SCREENSHOT: Asia Film Festival.

The 2024 Taiwanese film Daughter's Daughter (女兒的女兒) will play in Pittsburgh on September 27, art of the SCREENSHOT: Asia Film Festival.

Jin Aixia (Silvia Chang) has two daughters, but Emma (Karena Lam), who grew up in New York, and Fan Zuer (Eugenie Liu), who grew up in Taipei, never knew about each other until well into adulthood. When Zuer and her partner decide to try and get pregnant via in vitro fertilization, they wind up travelling to the US for treatments. Tragically, the couple die there in an accident, but their embryo remains alive and well — and Aixia is left as its legal guardian. Arriving in New York overwhelmed with grief, she is faced with the choice to donate, terminate, or find a surrogate for the embryo. But after a life spent feeling like she’s fallen short as a mother, who is she to decide what to do with her deceased daughter’s unborn child?

2024 Toronto International Film Festival Platform Award winner, 2024 Golden Horse winner, best original screenplay.

The movie starts at 1:00 pm in 125 Frick Fine Arts in Oakland (map); please note the room change, which is not reflected on the ticketing page. Tickets are available online.

2024 film Winter in Sokcho, September 25 at Harris Theater.

The 2024 film Winter in Sokcho will play in Pittsburgh on September 25, part of the SCREENSHOT: Asia Film Festival.

In Sokcho, a small seaside village in South Korea, a young woman, Soo-Ha (Bella Kim), lives in a bit of a rut, rhythmed by visits to her mother, a fishmonger, and her relationship with her boyfriend, Jun-Ho (Gong Doyu). When a French man named Yan Kerrand (Roschdy Zem) arrives in the boarding house where Soo-Ha works, it awakens within her questions about her own identity, and that of her French father, about whom she knows almost nothing. As winter settles over the town, Soo-Ha and Kerrand will observe and gauge each other, trying to communicate any way they can – through cooking for one and drawing for the other – delicately weaving a fragile bond between them.

Tickets are free for those with a Pitt ID card---registration and promo code required---and $11 for everyone else. The movie begins at 6:00 pm at the Harris Theaer in downtown's Cultural District (map).

"Chinese Mid-Autumn and Global Food Festival" at Carnegie Mellon University, October 1.

The Department of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics’ Chinese Studies program at Carnegie Mellon University and Pittsburgh’s Organization of Chinese Americans will present the 2025 Chinese Mid-Autumn and Global Food Festival on October 1.

Celebrate the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and explore culinary traditions from around the world at this vibrant cultural event!

Free and open to the public, attendees will enjoy live performances that showcase music, dance and storytelling from East Asian cultures. Sample delicious global cuisine, connect with the greater-CMU community and take part in a joyful evening of community, culture and conversation. All are welcome — come hungry and curious!

The event runs from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in the Cohon University Center's Rangos Ballroom on the Carnegie Mellon campus in Oakland (map), and is free and open to the public.

Free "We Learn: Basic Japanese Language and Culture," Fridays at downtown Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, from October 3.

"Osaka, Japan" by Pedro Szekely (Creative Commons).

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's downtown branch will host "We Learn: Basic Japanese Language and Culture" on Fridays from October 3 through November 7, after the previous session ended on June 6.

Enjoy learning the basics of the Japanese language and culture from a certified, native Japanese instructor. We will learn greetings, etiquette and manners, survival phrases for traveling to Japan, visiting interesting tourist locations, and ordering food and shopping. We will also learn reading and writing – Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji, Emoji, Anime and Manga. Each session is designed to be interactive and fun. The agenda can vary based on the interests of the students.

 

We Learn groups are volunteer-facilitated peer learning groups. We Learn Groups meet in person but use a hybrid model with online learning materials. This Group meets on Fridays: Oct 3, Oct 10, Oct 17, Oct 24, Oct 31, Nov 7.

Registration is required and can be completed online. The classes run from 11:00 am, and the library is located at 612 Smithfield St. (map).

2025 movie Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle (劇場版「鬼滅の刃」無限城編) stays in Pittsburgh area through (at least) October 2.

The 2025 movie Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle (劇場版「鬼滅の刃」無限城編), which opened in Pittsburgh-area theaters on September 11, will stay here through (at least) October 2.

The Demon Slayer Corps plunge into Infinity Castle to defeat Muzan. However, the remaining Hashiras and the Demon Slayers who survived Tanjiro's Final Selection are pitted against the remaining members of the Twelve Kizuki first.

It is scheduled to play locally at many local theaters, including the Waterworks Cinemas, the AMC theaters in Waterfront and South Hills, and the Cinemark theaters in Monroeville and North Hills. Tickets, and a real-time listing of theaters, are available online.